Donkey Kong Junior
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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In 1982 Nintendo unleashed Donkey Kong Jr upon the arcades. With seemingly different gameplay to that of its predecessor, the follow up to Donkey Kong was a huge hit which soon found its way to many different home computers and consoles. One platform which wasn’t lucky enough to get its very own version of the game was the Commodore 64 - something homebrew developers have decided to make amends for.

Taking the highly regarded Atari 7800 port of the game, developers have reworked this console version to be compatible with the Commodore 64. Featuring vibrant visuals similar to the coin-op classic and near identical gameplay, both fans of Donkey Kong and the Commodore 64 will be well served.

Donkey Kong Jr. was originally released in the arcades in 1982 as a sequel to Donkey Kong. In this game, Mario plays the antagonist, finally having captured Donkey Kong, and has put the ape in a locked cage. As Donkey Kong Jr., players will have to make their way through four different levels (Vines, Springboard, Chains and Mario's Hideout) in an attempt to find keys to free the little monkey's father.

Along the way, Mario will send out Snapjaws, swooping purple birds, and electric sparks in an attempt to stop Junior. Junior can defend himself by dropping fruit found around the levels on the heads of his foes. The more foes a piece of fruit hits in a falling sequence, the higher bonus points can be scored.

Junior can also avoid enemies more easily by grabbing hold of two chains or vines at a time to climb away faster, or by jumping over his foes. However, any long fall or falling into the water on certain levels will mean the loss of a life for Junior.

In the final cut scene, Junior will free Donkey Kong and both will escape after giving Mario the boot. Once all four levels are cleared, the game levels will start over at a higher difficulty.

Like the original Donkey Kong, the earlier 1980's console versions do not have all of the levels and animations from the arcade.

Trivia

Atari 2600 port

Surprisingly, Donkey Kong Jr. for the Atari 2600 was probably the poorest conversion in the history of the franchise. It was over-simplified in every aspect and almost unplayable. That must have been one of the main reasons Nintendo later enforced such strict standards on third party developers.

Cereal

Donkey Kong Junior had a breakfast cereal released in 1983 by Ralston-Purina. It had strawberry and banana shaped and flavored cereals.

Cartoon

Donkey Kong Jr. was popular enough to have a Saturday morning TV cartoon based on it in the early 1980's. DK Jr. would often use "Monkey Muscles" as his catchphrase.
Mario

This is the only Nintendo game where Mario is portrayed as a villain.

Awards

TeleMatch
Issue 04/1984 – Hand-held/Minigames of the Year 1983 (Readers' Vote)

http://n4g.com/news/1617718/donkey-kong-jr-ported-to-the-commodore-64
http://www.mobygames.com/game/donkey-kong-junior
